“I don’t even know why I do what I do,….when I do it, it just comes.”
~Sam Cooke (to Bobby Womack)
You Send Me:
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Crossing Over (documentary):
Continue reading Jan 22: The late Sam Cooke was born in 1931
…1968’s Lady Soul proved Aretha Franklin, the pop sensation, was no fluke. Her performances were more impassioned than on her debut, and the material just as strong, an inspired blend of covers and originals from the best songwriters in soul and pop music.
~John Bush (allmusic.com)
Chain of Fools – Live 1968:
Continue reading Jan 22: Aretha Franklin released “Lady Soul” in 1968
“That man I shot, I didn’t know him
I was just doing my job,
maybe so was he”
Brighter Than Creation’s Dark is the seventh studio album released by Drive-By Truckers. It was released on January 22, 2008 in the United States. Recorded during and after the acoustic Dirt Underneath Tour, the album features a more stripped down, and country based sound not seen since their sophomore releasePizza Deliverance.
A Ghost to Most (official video):
The album’s title is taken from a line in a Mike Cooley song entitled “Checkout Time in Vegas”. Wes Freed once again provided the album artwork. According to guitarist Patterson Hood, the band’s decision on the name of the album was greatly influenced by the Freed’s artwork. Hood also said that the album was recorded with much ease and did not require compromises.
Continue reading Jan 22: Drive-by Truckers released Brighter Than Creation’s Dark in 2008
“It overwhelmed me, really. He had such talent, he could find things inside a song and vigorously develop them. He found things that other people wouldn’t think of finding in there. He probably improved upon it by the spaces he was using. I took license with the song from his version, actually, and continue to do it to this day.”
– Bob Dylan (1995)“I liked Jimi Hendrix’s record of this and ever since he died I’ve been doing it that way… Strange how when I sing it, I always feel it’s a tribute to him in some kind of way.”
– Bob Dylan (booklet Biograph)
The Jimi Hendrix Experience began to record their cover version of Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower” on January 21, 1968, at Olympic Studios in London. According to engineer Andy Johns, Jimi Hendrix had been given a tape of Dylan’s recording by publicist Michael Goldstein, who worked for Dylan’s manager Albert Grossman.
“(Hendrix) came in with these Dylan tapes and we all heard them for the first time in the studio”
– Andy Johns
For me it is the only cover version of a Bob Dylan song that is arguably as good or better than Dylan’s own version.
The Jimi Hendrix Experience – All Along The Watchtower (audio):
Continue reading Jan 21: The Jimi Hendrix Experience recorded All Along The Watchtower in 1968
Them Again is the second album by Them, lead by singer and songwriter Van Morrison. The album was released by Decca Records in the UK on 21 January 1966 but it failed to chart. In the U.S. it was released in April 1966 where it peaked at #138 on the Billboard charts.
| Released | 21 January 1966 (UK), April 1966 (USA) |
|---|---|
| Genre | Rock |
| Length | 48:21Decca (UK), Parrot PA 61008; PAS 71008 (USA) |
| Producer | Tommy Scott |
It’s a great record and often overlooked and unfavourably compared to Them’s debut. It is allmost as good. You owe it to yourself to check it out.
Two of the original Van Morrison songs included on the album, “My Lonely Sad Eyes” and “Hey Girl”, can be seen as precursors to the poetic musings of Morrison’s later Astral Weeks album, released in 1968. “My Lonely Sad Eyes” begins with the words, “Fill me my cup, and I’ll drink your sparkling wine/Pretend that everything is fine, ’til I see your sad eyes.” The title implies that the sad eyes belong to the singer but the lyrics address the singer’s love interest. It reminds me of Rolling Stones at their most soulful.
My Lonely Sad Eyes:
The song “Hey Girl” has a pastoral feel to it, enhanced by the addition of flutes and in Brian Hinton’s opinion is a “dry run for ‘Cyprus Avenue'” from Astral Weeks.
Hey Girl:
Continue reading Jan 21: Them Again by Them was released in 1966